ATR 72

The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR.
The number "72" in its name is derived from the aircraft's typical standard seating capacity of 72 passengers.
The ATR 72 has also been used as a corporate transport, cargo aircraft, and maritime patrol aircraft.
To date, all of the ATR series have been completed at the company's final assembly line in Toulouse, France; ATR benefits from sharing resources and technology with Airbus SE, which has continued to hold a 50% interest in the company. Successive models of the ATR 72 have been developed. Typical updates have included new avionics, such as a glass cockpit, and the adoption of newer engine versions to deliver enhanced performance, such as increased efficiency and reliability and reductions in operating costs. The aircraft shares a high degree of commonality with the smaller ATR 42, which remains in production as of 2025.

History

ATR is a joint venture formed by French aerospace company Aérospatiale and Italian aviation conglomerate Aeritalia. During the 1980s, French aerospace company Aérospatiale and Italian aviation conglomerate Aeritalia merged their work on a new generation of regional aircraft. The new jointly owned company, ATR, was established to develop, manufacture, and market their first airliner, later designated the ATR 42. On 16 August 1984, the first model of the series, designated as the ATR 42-300, performed the type's maiden flight. During the mid-1980s, the ATR 72 was developed as a stretched variant of the ATR 42. On 27 October 1989, Finnish airline Finnair became the first airline to operate this type in revenue service.

Development

Origins

During the mid-1980s, ATR sought to introduce a larger airliner with increased capacity over its earlier products. This new regional airliner, designated as the ATR 72, was directly developed from the earlier ATR 42 and had much in common with it; the principal difference between the two airliners was an increase in the maximum seating capacity from 48 to 78 passengers. This was principally achieved by stretching the fuselage by, along with an increase of the wingspan, the use of more powerful engines, and increased fuel capacity by about 10%.
On 15 January 1986, the launch of the stretched ATR 72 programme was announced. On 27 October 1988, the prototype performed its maiden flight. One year later, on 25 September 1989, the ATR 72 received airworthiness certification from the French Directorate General for Civil Aviation. The following month, on 27 October 1989, Finnish airline Finnair became the first to introduce the aircraft into service. Since the ATR 72 is assembled on the same production line as the smaller ATR 42, along with sharing the majority of subsystems, components, and manufacturing techniques, the two types support each other to remain in production. This factor may have been crucial as, by 2015, the ATR 42 was the only 50-seat regional aircraft still being manufactured.
In 2000, the combined global ATR fleet reached its 10,000,000th flight, during which a distance of around 4 billion km and around 450 million passengers had flown on board ATR-built aircraft. The 2007 production set a new record for the programme's sales; a total of 113 new ATR aircraft had been ordered during a single year. By the end of 2014, ATR had received 1,000 orders for the type and delivered 754, leaving a backlog of 246 aircraft.
Various organisational changes were implemented within the ATR company. On 10 July 1998, ATR launched its new Asset Management Department. In June 2001, EADS and Alenia Aeronautica, ATR's parent companies, decided to reinforce their partnership, regrouping all industrial activities related to regional airliners into the ATR consortium. On 3 October 2003, ATR became one of the first aircraft manufacturers to be certified under ISO 9001-2000 and EN/AS/JISQ 9100, the worldwide quality standard for the aeronautics industry. During July 2004, ATR and Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer announced a co-operation agreement on the AEROChain Portal to deliver improved customer service. During April 2009, ATR announced the launch of its 'Door-2-Door' service as a new option in its comprehensive customer services range.
In 2017, the 72-600 unit cost was US$ million.

Further development

As of October 2007, the current production version is the ATR 72-600 series. On 2 October 2007, ATR CEO Stéphane Mayer announced the launch of the -600 series aircraft; the ATR 42-600 and ATR 72-600 featured various improvements to increase efficiency, dispatch reliability, lower fuel burn, and operating costs. While broadly similar to the earlier -500 model, differences include adopting improved PW127M engines, a new glass cockpit, and various other minor improvements.
Since 2008, ATR has been a participant in the European Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative. On 8 July 2015, an ATR 72-600 'green' technology demonstrator performed its first flight; the demonstrator was used for testing new composite materials for insulation, air conditioning systems, electrical distribution systems, and energy dispersal modifications to evaluate their effect on the aircraft's overall efficiency as a contribution to the Clean Sky initiative. ATR's senior vice-president for engineering Alessandro Amendola indicated that the elimination of all uses of bleed air was a key aim in the designing of an all-electric architecture as well as improving engine efficiency; the minimising of peak electrical loads was also a stated priority. During March 2016, a second round of flight trials dedicated the testing of all-electric systems architecture using the demonstrator was completed; analysis is set to continue.
As a consequence of strong demand for the -600 series, ATR decided to invest in the establishment of a second, more modern final assembly line and acquisition of more hangar space at its Toulouse site, along with a new large completion and delivery area; overall, the manufacturing operation expanded to four times the footprint that it had in 2005. Speaking in October 2015, ATR CEO Patrick de Castelbajac stated that the firm was set to produce in excess of 90 aircraft that year, and that the new manufacturing facilities could support a production rate of up to 120 per year. At the time, the company had a backlog of orders for 300 aircraft, sufficient for three years of production. During 2017, a new in-house financing and leasing division was established by ATR in order to offer customers a greater degree of support and expand the company's range of services.
In December 2015, the EASA approved a new high-density seating layout, raising the maximum capacity from 74 to 78 seats. During the 2021 Dubai Airshow in mid-November 2021, ATR debuted the new ATR 72-600 powered by new PW127XT powerplants with 20% lower maintenance cost and 3% lower fuel consumption than the predecessor PW127M powerplant.
Considerable emphasis has been placed upon the continuous development of ATR's aircraft models. Speaking at the Farnborough Airshow in July 2016, the CEO of ATR Patrick de Castelbajac stated that the company was currently examining the possibility of replacing the current Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127 engine with either a new offer from P&WC, or a GE38 derivative from GE Aviation. Although expressing satisfaction with the PW127 engine and its supplier, Castelbajac noted the design's age and the need to remain competitive with the latest regional jets. To be a worthwhile exercise, any re-engine exercise would require a 15 per cent improvement in fuel-burn and 20-25 per cent reduction of direct maintenance costs. Additionally, Castelbajac sees the potential re-engine as a "bridge" to the eventual development of a larger 100-seat aircraft.
During the mid-2010s, reports emerged that the development of a further stretched 90-seat ATR model was under consideration as well; allegedly, shareholder Airbus was relatively unenthusiastic on proceeding with such a development, while Airbus CEO Fabrice Brégier favoured a focus on resolving manufacturing issues. However, in January 2018, ATR's parent company Leonardo announced that the 100-seat program has been formally brought to a close.

Design

The ATR 72 is a turboprop-powered regional airliner, capable of accommodating a maximum of 78 passengers. It is powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney Canada PW100 turboprop engines, which drive an arrangement of four or six-bladed propellers supplied by Hamilton Standard. Earlier models of the ATR 72 are equipped with the older PW124B engine, rated at, while later-built aircraft are powered by the newer PW127 engine, rated at a maximum of to achieve improved "hot and high" takeoff performance. It can land and takeoff in high airports with short runways like Andorra Airport. It employs carbonfibres for 30% of the wing by weight, for a 20% weight reduction.
In a standard configuration, the aircraft does not have an auxiliary power unit; when present it is installed within the C4 cargo section. Most operators of the ATR 72 equip their aircraft with a propeller brake that stops the propeller on the No. 2 engine while allowing the turbine to continue running, to provide both airflow and electrical power to the aircraft while on the ground.
In the majority of configurations, passengers board the ATR 72 using the rear door, a relatively unusual configuration for a passenger aircraft, while the front door is typically used for the loading and unloading of cargo; early customer Finnair intentionally ordered its ATR 72s with a front passenger door so that it could utilize the jet bridges at Helsinki Airport, while operator Air New Zealand's standard rear door aircraft can use jet bridges at airports with this equipment. While passengers are boarding or disembarking, a tail stand is set into place as standard procedure to guard against the aircraft nose lifting off the ground.